Open Ramps as of May 2,

[Ketchup]

1 hour ago, skeeter said:

I don't know who the person was you spoke with at ACOE but it's a total load of Bull that Baxter ramp is "open".   "Open" to the fishies maybe.  As early as late Saturday afternoon before the Sunday Monsoon hit, it was deep under water and the road you turn down off of "H" had maybe 20' of roadway that wasn't covered and that's before the Lake came up further.    

Didnt get her name. That was the info given as of this post. Not sure if the Corp has employees checking status of these things, or if they rely on locals to tell them. 

 I do know that what one person might say isnt launchable, another will back their boat down and fish. Im of the latter type. A week ago i pulled into Cape as 2 others were sitting in their trucks. I backed down to a little debris washed up on the ramp, slowly backed in, launched and did my thing.  One of those guys "Kansas with a Ranger fishing a cop event out of Topeka i believe" walked over and mentioned that they had a tourney and the ramp wouldnt work.  Well it did for myself. 

[dblades]

You should also be able to launch at H hwy across from Baxter.

[Ketchup]

Boy was the Corp lady wrong. Indian Point is not open. They have the road closed off.  Mill Creek is in good shape and thats where our tournament will be out of Saturday. 

[m&m]

I drove by the dam area ramps today. Moonshine, the state park, the state park marina and that old ramp at the end of Dale road off 265 are all blocked off and closed. Now that Indian Point ramp is closed I am not sure where I can launch to fish near the dam. 

Mike

[eyedabassman]

1 hour ago, m&m said:

I drove by the dam area ramps today. Moonshine, the state park, the state park marina and that old ramp at the end of Dale road off 265 are all blocked off and closed. Now that Indian Point ramp is closed I am not sure where I can launch to fish near the dam. 

Mike

Cow creek just be careful!

[vernon]

Is it that big of a deal to just launch from one of the parking lots of the ramps that are submerged?

It's been awhile since it's been necessary but I know we've done it in the past at Truman, Bull Shoals, Greers and a couple of others.  In fact, parking has usually been the only issue when launching from parking lots or access roads since the parking lots are shrunk or completely gone.

We typically just use the outboard to get off of the trailer and then run the troller until it's obvious that we're clear of shoreline underwater hazards and then proceed as per usual.

I ask because when we get there tomorrow we'll be slipping the boat for the week so all we need to do is dump the boat and then meet back at the resort where we can drop the trailer in the resort trailer parking and we're good to go.  So, we don't need to park for the day - just get the boat in the water.

We're staying on Indian Point but locations really isn't that important.  Looks like a nice day for a boat ride anyways!

Thanks!

 

[Ketchup]

Vernon,

 No issues at all launching from the lot. The issue with Corp ramps tho, is they gate off the road to the ramp/parking areas so thats a no-go.  Private ramps would be no issue tho. 

 I had a 16' jon boat with a tiller 25 for years that seen more grass/mud launching than it ever thought about seeing pavement areas. A guy can get away with that with a 4x4 truck and light boat. But that ends with heavy glass rigs. Mill Creek wont be a far run back to Indian if you need a launch point for the week. 

[Champ188]

Vernon, I'm with you on the parking lot deal. Find an area that is adequately sloped and go for it. I haven't spent enough time around Indian Point to know where that might be, but surely there's a suitable spot.

I know it sounds silly to some folks on here that we would go to those measures, but some of us have been fishing all of our lives --- and have fished a lot of tournaments over the years in locales not nearly as posh as Table Rock --- and you can safely launch a boat in a lot of places if you are careful. As Bill so expertly pointed out, there are tricks that make it much easier.

[Champ188]

10 minutes ago, Ketchup said:

Mill Creek wont be a far run back to Indian if you need a launch point for the week. 

If you're driving around the dam end of the lake from Indian Point, you'd be closer to launch at Cow Creek or better yet, the primitive ramp at the end of JJ highway, which turns off 86 at the small gas station/convenience store. You're only a mile or two straight across the lake from Indian Point.

[vernon]

I called the place that we're staying (Branson Yacht Club at Rock Lane) and while the guy that I talked to didn't seem overly knowledgeable, he did say that they're ramp was no good but marina access was fine if we could get the boat in the water.

However, I've launched at their place numerous times and really don't see why it would be a big deal to launch off of their parking lot unless it's a little too flat that high up.

I've fished over around Cow Creek a million times but haven't ever been there by land.  Coming from Springfield, would it be easier to take 13 to 86 as opposed to coming down 65?

I was trying to Mapquest it but apparently the folks at that fine website don't fish much!